August ends the way August was - a little choppy. Quiet day for trading averaging down in silver mining, adding more in 5G semiconductors and exiting Mexico in one portfolio.
Portfolio News
Market Flip Flop
US markets ended a choppy August a little higher.
The new round of tariffs are implemented on September 1 - markets are watching that nervously. US holiday also on Monday = a quieter session on Friday. Treasury yields mirror the equity markets drifting a little higher.
The headlines tell a story all about the meaning of inversion. The market does not really know which way things will go = my guess is we will see in about 12 months time which is the normal time lag between inversion and recession. Of course, a resolution in China will change that dynamic - the last headline is leaning that way.
Europe Muddles
Giuseppe Conte pulls off another coalition deal and is asked to form a government in Italy
Seems like I was a bit hasty closing out the options trades I had in Italy two weeks ago - a lot changes in two weeks in Italian politics, this time for the better.
Merger News
VMware, Inc. (VMW) announces mergers with Carbon Black (CBLK) and Pivotal Software (PVTL). Price pops 4.21% in day's trade.
The merger with Pivotal has been controversial as it was partly owned by Dell Technologies (DELL), who already control the majority in VMware. The talk is that this was a shifty way of moving assets around inside the Dell empire. The Carbon Black acquisition leap frogs VMware in cybersecurity.
Bought
Marvell Technology Group Ltd (MRVL): US Semiconductors. Averaged down entry price in one portfolio and added a small holding in one portfolio. Marvell presented earnings during the day with a beat on revenue and earnings BUT guidance was softer than market wanted. Jim Cramer idea to keep adding with an eye on the role that Marvell will play in 5G rollout.
Coeur Mining, Inc (CDE): Silver Mining. I bought call options in the early session on Thursday. Price slid all day and closed lower as liquidity improved (see TIB461). Averaged down entry price on January 2020 strike 6 call options bought the day before. The updated chart shows the new 100% profit level at $7.55 (the yellow ray moved down compared with the blue ray) - a 38% move from the $5.47 closing price.
Encouraging to see price test back to the highs seen earlier in the week.
Sold
iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (EWW): Mexico Index. 10% blended loss since November 2016/April 2019. Investment in Mexico based mostly on oil prices and to a degree on rising GDP data (see TIB280 for the data). Oil price is heading sideways and looking less comfortable as trade war rolls on. Protective exit.
Cryptocurency
Bitcoin (BTCUSD): Price range for the weekend was $482 (5.2% of the low). Buyers were lurking around the two short term reversals pushing price up 3 days in a row.
Ethereum (ETHUSD): Price range for the weekend was $9 (5.5% of the low). Saturday trade covers both high and low for the weekend with Sunday trade an inside bar testing below the short term $177 level.
Ripple (XRPUSD): Price range for the weekend was $0.00955 (3.8% of the open). Price trades sideways fully within the width of Thursday (August 29) bar.
CryptoBots
Profit Trailer Bot No closed trades.
Currency Trades
Outsourced MAM account No closed trades. Trades open on USDJPY and USDCHF short (1.22% negative). Tariff deployment on September 1 will reverse the risk off sentiment.
Cautions: This is not financial advice. You need to consider your own financial position and take your own advice before you follow any of my ideas
Images: I own the rights to use and edit the Buy Sell image. News headlines come from Google Search. All other images are created using my various trading and charting platforms. They are all my own work
Tickers: I monitor my portfolios using Yahoo Finance. The ticker symbols used are Yahoo Finance tickers
Charts: http://mymark.mx/TradingView - this is a free charting package. I have a Pro subscription to get access to real time forex prices
August 30, 2019
